of Wolves and Dogs
by hotpielookedlikehotpie
Summary: Takes place during a Storm of Swords, when the Hound captures Arya. Arya/Gendry


A flash of color raced passed by him as he sat underneath the overhang to keep dry of the building where everyone was discussing their plans. Their plans that really didn't involve Gendry at all, just in case you were wondering, other than the fact that he joined this group and traveled with them. Other than that though, really he couldn't give a rats arse what they were talking about.

He focused on the flash that went by him, and saw that it was Arya. "Stupid wolf-girl," he muttered under his breath, standing up and stretching his limbs. What she was doing running off he wasn't sure. He knew that she was in there, listening to what the group was telling her because it involved her, and now she was running off. He called out her name, and watched her for a bit. If she heard him, she gave no response, and he cursed under his breath.

"Stupid stubborn git of a wolf-girl," He muttered to himself as he started running after her. Harwin and Lem Lemoncloak came outside to call after her, but she kept running. He cursed her, cursed her tiny little feet that moved her tiny little figure so fast, cursed the old mossy house that hid her when she turned the corner. Lightning crashed, and he cursed that too.

He almost got to her, he was right there, really. Close. But then there a horse ran off down the road with a figure on it. He knew the horse and knew the rider atop: Sandor Clegane. He stood there, confused, not able to put it all together, until the face of Arya Stark looked out from in front of Sandor Clegane. They locked eyes and for the first time since Gendry knew her, Arya had a look of complete and utter terror.

He shouted her name again and his voice cracked with the thunder in a vain protest to what was happening. He started to chase after the already disappearing silhouette of a beast upon a horse. He ran down the mud path and the shouts behind them were a muddy version of both his name and hers being shouted. He didn't care and he pushed it out of his head. He shut everything out of his head save for the road, the girl, and the rain that wouldn't let itself be forgotten. "Stupid wolf-girl getting herself taken," He muttered under his breath and he pounded down the road. The mud threatened to eat him whole with each step, but he ran on after the wolf-girl and the dog that took her. His head was on fire and the rain felt like ice on his skin. He didn't care. All he cared about was wondering how many pieces he could tear a dog into.

They found him two hours later on the road. Lem Lemoncloak and Jack-Be-Lucky chased after Gendry who chased after the hound. The rain was still coming down heavy and they found the boy on all fours with his head in his hands and it seemed that there was more mud on his body than skin.

They tried to talk to him but Gendry didn't answer. Whether it was the cold or the rain or the mud or the loss of the friend, they weren't sure. What they were sure of was that the kid ran far before he stopped. It took a while to trudge back in the rain and mud, with the both of them having to support the kid between them who just sagged and didn't even look forward or say a thing. When they finally got back to where they were staying, they quickly got Gendry in front of the fire to warm him up.

Gendry felt the heat of the fire and he saw the red and the yellow dance in front of him. Fire was holy to these men he decided to join with. People were talking, most likely discussing him, but he just stared at the fires. Thoros apparently had visions by staring at the fire; all that Gendry saw was flames.

And then suddenly he was being yanked up and out of his chair. "He needs a warm bath, that's what he him up and get that mud out of his bones." He let them direct him up the stairs where someone started to boil water and after a couple minutes the hot bath was ready and they undressed him and slid him in. Gendry was still non-responsive to them. The person that was washing him was talking to him, he could hear some sort of noise that he supposed was a voice in the back of his head but he didn't really pay attention to it.

I lost her.

"Stupid wolf-girl," He said as he punched the water, splashing the person who was trying to get him to actually scrub. When he looked at the person he saw...Arya.

And she looked mad. "What did you do that for, you stupid bull?" He knew he was just seeing things, his exposure to wet and cold probably doing something and working a fever into him. His anger swelled into him. "You're the one that got yourself kidnapped. It's not my fault. I went after you. I-" He cut himself off and quickly went under water. Anger was good. He was used to anger. That was what he'd allow. He didn't need any other emotion.

When he came back up, it seemed that Arya was disappearing. "Wait!" He called out aloud. He didn't know what was in his head anymore and what was really happening, but he knew he didn't want to be left alone. He'd rather a fever hallucination to the empty truth. Arya smiled sadly and came close to him and gave him a punch. "Do you know what dogs do to wolves?" She whispered in his ear and completely disappeared.

He shivered and went through the rest of his washing without another sound. After that he dressed and they gave him a bed with many furs about him. He laid there not moving as person after person tried to come in and talk to him. Some tried to say that they heard that he was talking when he was being washed and wanted to know about that. Others were saying that they were leaving tomorrow at first light to try and find Arya. Someone brought in food and left it right next to him. He didn't even look over at it; it stayed untouched. He laid in the bed under the furs. His mind rang with the words "Do you know what dogs do to wolves?"

He stood up suddenly. Laying around doing nothing wasn't cutting it. He couldn't do it. He couldn't just lay there. "Stupid wolf-girl," He stated when he looked out the window. The moon seemed to be playing a game of hide-and-go-seek with the clouds. And then he couldn't deal with doing nothing. They were going to look for her starting tomorrow, that's fine, but he sure as hell couldn't just lay up here waiting for the hour to come upon him. He wanted to do something. Need to do something.

What he needed to do was smith.

Gendry took the stairs down two at a time and was out in the night within seconds. Rain still fell on him but he couldn't feel it. He didn't feel anything until he had the fires roaring like hellhounds and a hammer in his hand. When he started to hit the metal, it sung a song into the silent night. Whenever Gendry smithed, he was able to clear his head. And everything he was trying not to think about came through with each hit of the hammer on the steel.

"Do you know what dogs do to wolves?" He hit the hammer on the steel for every word in that sentence. He imagined the Hound's already disfigured face as the steel as he brought his hammer down time and time again. When he brought the steel into the flames, he imagined it was the Hound burning in the fires of the pits of the darkest of hells.

Gendry was fine with what he was, with his life. He was a smith, and that's all he'd be. But

Arya Stark had it in her mind that she'd make him "part of her pack," and asked him to come with her. And he went with her time and time again.

But then he decided to join the Brothers Without Banners.

He shook that from his thoughts. He'd deal with that when the time came. Now was the time for anger.

As he slammed down his hammer for forging, he thought back to the stories he was told of King Robert before he was a King. Of when he was a knight, and a damn good one at that. Armed with a warhammer. He started a war over a girl, a Stark girl at that (which made Gendry laugh a bitter laugh), and in the end got the Iron Throne (also got a good deal drunk and his death but that didn't matter).

As he brought down his hammer, he imagined it being a warhammer, and he imagined being Robert Baratheon, the Knight. And maybe he wouldn't start a war over a stolen Stark girl, but he sure as hell could bring a battle in the middle of the war over one.

A Bull instead of a Stag; a Dog instead of a Dragon. That, and the fact that all Gendry was was a bastard.

"Do you know what Bulls do to Dogs?" Gendry asked to the black of the night, his warhammer in his hand. He heard a response from the forest, a pack of wolves. They answered with howls, and he took them to be his war cry.


End file.
